Collateral Murder

On July 12, 2007, the U.S carried out a series of air-to-ground attacks conducted by a team of two U.S. AH-64 Apache helicopters in Al-Amin al-Thaniyah, New Baghdad during the Iraqi insurgency.

But why?  

Since high school,  I've known the U.S. was not sinless.  However, I was unaware of just exactly how shameless the U.S. government and military are.  The fact that things like this occur in the United States is saddening, and I say that as a United States citizen.  I often question how Americans can say they're American proudly when our country carries out heinous attacks like this one. 

Thanks to Wikileaks and Julian Assange I know about this and others do too.  Regardless, the lives of the people were taken in vain.  I'm sure most Americans are ignorant to events like this.  But this is exactly why other countries don't view the United States in the most flattering of ways. 

In the video at around 9:37, American soldiers are heard saying, “Come on, let us shoot.”

It was startling and scary to see soldiers so desensitized to murder that it’s almost like they’re playing a video game.  

And let’s be honest, it was an execution. 

Innocent lives were lost.  Were taken.

Thanks to Julian Assange and the organization that he founded in 2006, WikiLeaks, people were able to get a detailed look of what the soldiers who killed Saeed Chmagh, Namir Noor-Eldeen and others.  While Assange was not the whistleblower who initially leaked the information, he is the one who posted the information to WikiLeaks.    

The U.S. has been trying to extradite him.  Why?

The first duty of a journalist is the pursuit of the truth.  And that's exactly what Julian Assange did.  The U.S. should punish him for doing his job.  U.S. citizens and the world deserved to know what the United States military did in the country of Iraq.

I knew the U.S had blood on its hands in general, but I did not know that the U.S. committed so many heinous war crimes.  And for what?  

Things like President George W. Bush lying about weapons of mass destruction (WAD) in Iraq, leading to the death of 300,000 Iraqi civilians.

A complete disregard for human life.

And the U.S. gets away with things like that because of how powerful it is as a country. 

The Geneva Conventions, Article 35 states: 

"Unlike under Article 17 of the 1929 Geneva Convention on the Wounded and Sick, medical transports are covered by Article 35 even when they have not been specifically 'equipped' for that purpose.  Indeed, as the operational situation and casualty evacuation needs may require the use of any available transport asset for medical purposes, a restrictive definition of a medical transport would be contrary to the purpose of the article and to the overall humanitarian objectives of the Convention.  Only medical transports specifically protected by other treaty provisions are excluded from the scope of Article 35."

Essentially, this was a war crime.  One of many that the U.S. has committed.

Today, Julian Assange's health is declining.  He is currently in a prison in Britain where over 60 doctors believe he could die.  

The soldiers involved should have been held accountable because, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”